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Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Carnival of Madness: Canada

Pit bull madness, in its fullest expression, has not yet arrived in Canada. To witness the extremes of pit bull advocacy a Canadian would have to venture south of the 49th parallel.

Those who dare to travel there may discover that extreme pit bull advocacy is not simply an animal welfare movement. It is a collective madness that crosses educational, economic, sexual, social, and political boundaries. In short, extreme pit bull advocacy is the newest battleground of the culture wars.

Canada has not yet experienced the cultural disorientation that accompanies pit bull madness, but careful observers will find signs of early onset madness in recent Canadian news.

Take, for example, the case of Loki, a pit bull with a history of aggression who eventually mauled one of his owners. On April 1st Loki's case arrived in the Kelowna courts where, predictably, the owners wanted Loki returned to their care.1

A similar but even more bizarre case occurred as April drew to a close on the other end of the country. The story of Krista Mader of Debert, NS, reads like an Oliver Sachs' case history. Ms Mader was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax where she remained for six days after being mauled by her pit bull. Many advocates of fighting breeds believe attacks are caused by irresponsible owners. Ms Mader cannot resort to that excuse; she is a responsible owner, some might say obsessively so. Ms Mader jokes that she pays more for her pet food than she does for her mortgage. So she has devised an alternate excuse: the cause of her dog's attack was poor breeding. We believe Ms Mader may be on to something.

In May Canadian animal news erupted with accounts of pit bull attacks in Calgary; for a time it seemed there were one or two attacks a day. This news came from the city that had been the showplace of BSL-free animal ordinances. The advocates of fighting breeds have been noticeably quiet.

Also in May came the bizarre account of the 14-year old girl who was sent to the hospital after being attacked by a "coyote" in a London, Ontario park. The girl was walking with her boyfriend, who happens to own a pit bull. The pit bull often accompanied the boy but, according to the boy, did not accompany the youngsters on the day of the attack. The girl was attacked from the back, and the attacking animal repeatedly bit the girl's neck and face. The police and animal control have accepted the "coyote" account, even though neither the girl nor the boy claim to have seen the animal.

Throughout these late spring, early summer weeks the now customary attacks on our more vulnerable animal companions continued. An unknown number of Canadian companion animals were attacked and killed, often while their horrified owners looked on.

Fortunately, voices of reason can still be heard in Canada. The Montreal Gazette published Pit bulls are inherently high-risk dogs (Opinion, by Barbara Kay); The Calgary Herald published Pit bull ban is logical next step (Opinion, by Naomi Lakritz); and the Alberni Valley Times published Pit bull dog breed is a danger to general public (letter, by Mia Johnson). Jesse Ferreras managed to sneak Canada, Get Rid of Pit Bulls Once and For All past the censors at Huffington Post.

“If this wasn’t a pit bull, it would’ve been put down right away. They’re only concerned about giving (the breed) any more of a bad name than what they have now. If it was a German shepherd, a Shih Tzu or a beagle, do you think people would be coming forward fighting to keep it alive? No, they wouldn’t.

Statistics:
Statistics quoted on SRUV are from the nation's authoritative source for current dog attack statistics, the 30+ year, continuously updated Dog attack deaths and maimings, U.S. & Canada.View or download the current PDF

Definitions:
SRUV uses the definition of "pit bull" as found in the Omaha Municipal Code Section 6-163. As pit bulls are increasingly crossed with exotic mastiffs, Catahoula Leopard Dogs and other breeds, the vernacular definition of "pit bull" must be made even more inclusive.

Sources cited by news media sometimes refer to "Animal Advocates" or sometimes "Experts." In many cases these words are used to refer to single-purpose pit bull advocates who have never advocated for any other breeds or species of animals. Media would be more accurate to refer to these pit bull advocates as advocates of fighting breeds.

Similarly, in many cases pit bull advocates refer to themselves as "dog lovers" or "canine advocates" and media often accepts this usage. The majority of these pit bull advocates are single-purpose advocates of fighting breeds.